5-year-old walks out of school to his house without being noticed

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BELLEVILLE, Mich. (WJBK) - A 5-year-old boy walked away from school and no one even realized he was gone.

Fortunately he knew how to get home and arrived safely but his family is outraged.

"It blew my mind, so he comes in the back door and he says 'Hey daddy' and I'm like, 'How did you get home,'" said the boy's father.

That was the reaction when he saw his 5-year-old son walk into the house last week when he should have been at Edgewood Elementary.

"A few minutes after he told me that, a cop was at the front door," Lawrence said.

The principal at Edgemont Elementary says the student, who the parent does not want to be identified, left the school on his own.

A student had come to office with a bathroom office, he had a pass from another class," said Principal Fred Abel. "And was returned to class. We called down to make sure he made it, because it is unusual for him to be out by himself, and he did not.

"Unfortunately, he bolted out of building."

Police were called and the principal and other staff members went searching for the student who they found at his home.

"I was pretty mad,” Lawrence said. “You would be too."

School officials say they can't comment on whether or not any staff members were disciplined because of this incident but they do say policies, like how students leave a classroom, are being reviewed.

"Typically students leave together," Abel said. "Because this has happened, it has given us an opportunity to go through everything we do. It makes you look at it in a new way.”

The boy’s father says he talked to his son about the harsh reality of what could have happened after he walked out this school.

Lawrence says he is working with school and believes that they will do what it takes to make sure something like this doesn't happen again.

"I'm working with my staff as well as the district on anything else we can do," Abel said. "I don't want to go into specifics of security because it is security."